Security of computer systems and networks is being challenged by hackers and by computer viruses.
The term “hacking” is colloquially being used to refer to attempting to gain unauthorized access to another party's computer system or network. Although not all hackers have malicious purposes, such security breaches can have serious consequences if it leads to stealing or corrupting electronic information or to crashing the system.
A virus is a piece of code that gets loaded onto the computer system and executed without the user knowing about it. A typical example of a virus is a program that replicates itself. A possible hazard of such a virus is that it quickly occupies all available memory, thus bringing the system to a halt. If the virus is capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypasses security systems it can spread the disaster.